Hendrick Tasane

When the aloes trade opened in Buru, I prepared for a trek to the high
mountains.  With me were Kias and Kandas, Walua men.  We packed rice, sugar,
and other provisions, and set out from the coastal village of Labuan, walking
along the dirt road by the light of the moon.

After some time, we said to one another, "Let us stop for a while to hunt
cuscus by calling for them from the shadows under the trees."  We set down our
belongings by the road side and entered the woods.

After hunting cuscus for some time without success, we felt hungry, so we said
to each other, "In stead of going on tonight, let us camp here and cook some
rice."

We found no running stream, but only a puddle of rainwater beside the road, so
we scooped some of this up to cook our two cupaks (a cupak is a sweetened
condensed milk can) of rice.  After eating, the three of us were exhausted, so
we stretched ourselves out to sleep on the road.

In the morning, we pushed on until we drew near to a place called Kumbang Puu
(Kumbang Tree), where we were overtaken by a logging company tank truck
transporting a party of surveyors.  The truck stopped for us, and we got on,
riding with them as far as Kumbang Puu, where we disembarked with the survey
team.  After remaining with them about the space of an hour or so, we said to
one another, "It is good to be with these people, but we three should push on,
because our journey is still long."

We walked on to a place called Huma Ele Soldadoro (House of the Soldiers),
where we encountered people from the outback.  They were also heading for the
mountains, but had camped there the previous night, speared a wild boar, and
were now cooking and smoking it.  Seeing that we had arrived, they cooked some
of the dried meat for us as well.  When we had eaten, they detained us saying,
"If possible, why don't you camp here with us this night, and we will all go
on together in the morning."

But we said to one another, "Let's not sleep here tonight, but push on to the
place they call Ejimar, and camp there."

Unable to detain us further, we went on to Ejimar, where we made camp.  In the
late afternoon, I said to Kandas, "Stay here, gather leaves, and build a
shelter while Kias and I go east into the old garden sites and have a look at
the jackfruit trees to see if any of them have fruit we can eat."

So Kandas remained behind, cut poles, and built a shelter which he thatched
with eslait (wild betel nut) palm leaves.  Then he removed bahu (shorea) bark,
and built a large bed.

In the meantime, Kias and I went down and succeeded in knocking loose two
jackfruit using a pole.  When we returned to enjoy our jackfruit, we found
that Kandas had already finished building our shelter.

We cooked, and ate, and a great rain began to fall.  It rained so heavily that
the Ejimar Stream became a torrent.

We slept, and in the morning we packed our belongings, and went on.  We forded
the Ejimar, and ascended a slop to a place called Karis Tama.  There we
halted, while Kandas climbed a tree that had a hole in it, and killed a female
cuscus.  Kias sat nearby while we gutted this animal, and turning seaward
said, "Have a look at that cuscus sitting down there in that treetop."
We looked, and sure enough, we saw a male cuscus sitting in a tree.  So the
three of us walked down, and Kias climbed to head off the cuscus, while Kandas
and I pulled on hanging rattan vines to drive it toward him.  Kias struck the
cuscus a blow with his sword, and it fell to the ground.  We picked it up and
carried it back to camp.

Before we had been back in camp very long, we heard voices from the direction
we had come.  It was the people from Huma Ele Soldadoro, who had been cooking
their boar.  They had caught up with us there at Karis Tama.  We gave them the
male cuscus, and kept the female for ourselves.  Then we went on together to a
resting place called Sangkokoro Enpihino.  By the time we got there, the sun
was already low in the west, so we said to them, "You're having a difficult
time of it, especially with your women, and even suckling infants.  You had
better camp here while we go on to Wankabu Lahin."

They said, "No.  We have now walked the same path together, so let us all camp
here and go on together in the morning."

We said , "No, you had better camp here, because we are going on."

Unwilling to be detained, the three of us pressed on through the late
afternoon, night overtaking us as we forded the Watemun.  We pulled out our
flashlight, and followed the path until we reached a field shelter belonging
to the people of Wankabu Lahin.  There we built a fire, made coffee, drank,
and slept.

Next morning, we waited for the party we had left behind, and traveled on with
them to Muskiki Stream, where there was a settlement of Watemun people.
Lacking the strength to carry on, we decided to spend the night with the
Watemun folk there.  In the late afternoon, they killed a chicken for us to
eat.  We ate, and slept.

In the morning, they boiled some cassava, fresh peanuts, and dried cuscus meat
for us to eat.

When we had finished, we took our leave of them saying, "You stay, because we
will now go."

We went on, reaching a village called Ite Lahin at noon.  This was the first
village we entered that belonged to the Walua people.  We said to each other,
"It is just noon.  Let's not spend the night here.  Let's go on."

But the people there said, "If you are going on, then wait until you have
eaten before you continue."

So the people there cooked dried pork for us.  They boiled millet, cassava,
and yams.  They prepared sago starch.  Then they called us to dine.

When we had finished, we sat for a time.  Then we said to each other, "Let's
go."

We headed for the homes of Kias and Kandas, my two companions, which we
reached just before dusk, and the people of those houses returned with a
carrying basket full of durian fruit.  We sat down and ate them all.  Then the
people cooked two fresh cuscus for us to eat that evening.  We ate, and
retired for sleep.  There were no kerosene lamps here.  Our lamps were
sections of bamboo containing damar gum, lit at their top ends.

Next morning I said to my companions, "Having reached these mountains, don't
forget that my purpose here is to hunt aloes.  Let us not remain long in this
village, but let us enter the forest in search of aloes, lest we remain here,
and not seek for aloes, and my efforts be in vain.  I will not be able to bear
it if I have bathed myself in perspiration making this journey and return with
no aloes."

My two companions and I rested there three days.  Then Kias said to me,
"Friend, let us not go after aloes yet until I have settled the matter of my
pig.  When I was gone to the coast, a man named Supan speared and stole a pig
of mine that was so big it had a hand breadth of fat.  A huge pig!  He ate it.
As you have come here from the coast, we trust you will bring this matter to a
satisfactory conclusion for us."

Then I said to them, "In that case, where does this man who ate your pig
live?"

"He lives at Uka Lahin."

I said, "Then let us go in the morning, and you will call your tribal elders,
and they will summon Supan, and we will try to get a settlement from him for
the pig."

So we left in the morning, and entered the house of the tribal elder, Wapehat,
at Uka Lahin.  Then Kandas and Kias raised the matter of the pig, and said,
"Please call Supan and ask him where he speared the pig."

They called Supan, and he came, and said, "About that pig, it is true.  I
confess.  I really did eat it.  But note that that pig wandered far.  It
entered and ate produce from that garden of mine named Waga Lahin.  Note that
that garden is far from any settlement.  The pig was caught in my snare, and I
considered it to be at fault because it had ranged far from the village.  So
when I found the pig in my snare, I truly did spear it, and took it to eat.
But this day I pledge to pay for it.  I will pay for it, but only with a gong
and three other small items."

But kias, the owner of the pig, said, "Those four items will not do, because
that pig of mine carried a hand breadth of fat.  Furthermore, it is as if he
ate my pig through theft.  He did not go and ask for it nicely.  He speared it
stealthily.  So he must be penalized also."

Then I, who had come there from the coast, said, "Listen.  If we consider
carefully, certainly the pig was also at fault, because it ranged far afield.
If the garden had been close to the village, or if he had speared it near a
house, then truly we could place the blame on Supan, because it would be as if
he stole it.  But notice that this garden was far from the village.  So of
course he was at fault, but the pig must also be blamed.  So let us not burden
Supan overmuch in this thing."

But the owner of the pig would not accept my words.  They returned to their
houses, got swords and spears, tied red bandanas about their heads, and
returned ready to do sword battle.  I was still there when they arrived.  I
went out into the yard, and said to them, "If you do battle, then remember
that I, who have come here from the coast, am also a head of the militia
there.  I will arrest you, and escort you all down to the coast, so the
government will encarcerate you there."

Hearing this, they were all over come with fear, went back inside the house,
lay down their swords and spears, and we resumed negotiations.  Negotiating
thus, I just said to Supan, "Supan, you must pay for the pig with a gong, two
woks, and a "kehet" sword."
Man Supan said, "I am prepared to do so, so long as there will be no quarrel.
Let them agree to take this gong, this sword, and these two woks and these two
plates.  I will even throw a young pig into the bargain."

Then I said to the owner of the pig, "Take heed, for if you refuse to accept
this gong, this sword, this piglet, then you are at fault, because this man
has confessed his error, but you will not pardon him.  Take heed, because you
are at fault."

Then my two companions, the owner of the pig feeling ashamed in my presence,
accepted those things.

We returned to the house of Kias, at Kawine Lahin, where we remained for two
days, at which time I said to my two companions, "Notice that it has been more
than one week since we left the coast, and I have yet to find one piece of
aloes.  I feel that I am suffering loss.  I feel I cannot accept this
situation.  So take heed that we leave now!  Make ready, and we will go."

Then Kias said to me, "Take heed, for this day we depart.  This day, we will
gather provisions."

Then we went and dug up taro, yams, adding these to the rice and sugar we had
brought with us from the coast, and in the morning we left.

Our destination was a place called Wae Olu.  There are three Wae Olu streams.
One is Saqa Mlia (Aboriginal Buru Branch).  Another is Saqa Slame (Islamic
Branch).  The third is Saq Merat (Red Branch).  We left Saqa Mlia behind, we
left Saqa Slame behind, we left Saq Merat behind, arriving at a stopping place
called Kandeax Talil Omon, a very lonely place.  All one can hear there is the
cries of birds, such as the exwasu (a friar bird).  But no human being is
there.  Here we built our shelter, and slept that night.

In the morning, having cooked and eaten, we went out in search of aloes.  Our
search took us to a mountain called Kaku Wanmese Lahin.  There, indeed, we
found many aloes trees.  But of all those we checked until the middle of the
day, we found none yielding the product we desired.  So we rested, and at our
provisions.  Then we continued our search.  Then I found one tree in which i
found the product.  It was truly black.  I found the product beginning midway
along the trunk, and extending downward to the base of the tree.  When I had
finished stripping away the outside, I found the tree contained about three
kilograms of aloes.  Then we returned.

Midway along our return path, Kias said to me, "Let's not go straight home,
but let's hunt for a cuscus first, to eat with our cassava."

I said, "Truly.  Let us put down our things and spend some time hunting for
cuscus."

We put down our things, and Kias climbed a tree, in which he speared two
cuscus--one female, one white male.

Returning onward to our shelter, we singed the fur off our two cuscus, cut
them up, and cooked them in lengths of bamboo.  We also boiled cassava.  Then
we ate, and slept.

In the morning, we cooked, and ate, and as we gathered our things to depart,
Kandas chanced to look seaward and spot four men just coming out on a lower
reach of the Wae Olu stream.  "Prepare your swords," he said coming inside,
"because there are about four men somewhat downstream.  This is a lonely
place, and I don't know whether they are good or bad."
When we heard these words, I ducked to the place where I had slept, took down
my "horo" sword, and fastened it about my waist.  Kias ducked inside, took
down his "walmesen" sword, and put it on.  Kandas took down his "horo" sword,
and put it on.  Then we brought out our spears, and stood them in the yard.
The three of us had six spear shafts between us, two per man.

Then Kandas said, "Don't sit inside.  Sit outside, because this is a lonely
place of the headwaters, where people are often killed to this day."  So we
all sat down outside, and Kandas warned Kias, "If these are bad people, then
take care to look out for our younger brother (me), lest he be killed, and we
come to grief."

So we sat, and as we watched, we saw that the four men were following the
stream inland.  As they approached closer and closer, Kandas said to me, "As a
matter of fact these are not bad men, but good men from the coast near Oki.
These people live behind Oki Baru village."

When they saw us, they recognized me, and said, "Then you are already here?"

I said, "Yes.  I came with these two men of mine to search for aloes."  Then I
asked them, "Where are you going?"

They said, "We are on our way to a place called Gub Danet."

Then we all sat down, and they looked to their betel nut bags, brought out
betel nut, split it, chewed, and smoked tobacco.  We chatted with them for
awhile, then they said, "You three stay while we four go on, because our
journey is still long."

We said, "Yes, you go, for we must also be on our way in search of aloes."

So we left in search of aloes, and they went on their way.  This time I found
one tree, and Kias found another, both containing the product for which we
searched.  We did this for four days, after which our provisions were
exhausted.

"Our provisions are spent," said my two companions.  "Let us now return home."

I said, "I feel unsatisfied having come so far in search of this wood."

Then we said to each other, "In that case, let us go up to the Walua
settlement of Gub Danet, to the house of Teken, and ask for cassava."

Then Kandas said to us, "I will remain while the two of you go and get
cassava."

I said, "You will not stay here alone.  The place we are going to is far, and
we may not return until tomorrow."

He said, "Surely, but if you fail to return tonight, then I will sleep here
alone.  Nothing will harm me."

So he stayed behind while Kias and I went.  We ascended a slope, and coming
down on the other side of the mountain, I heard the beating of a big drum.  "I
said, "Where are they beating that drum?"

Kias said to me, "Hush.  When we (the Waluas) beat drums in this way, it means
that we have killed a pig."

"Surely," I said. "We of the coast know no such thing."
We went on until we were near the gardens, when Kias said to me, "I will go
ahead, and you follow, because we are about to enter the fields."

Kias took the lead, and I followed, and we entered the gardens of the Walua
clan.  "What fearsome people are these!" I exclaimed as we stepped into the
clearing of a field house, and I looked up.  We had arrived at the field house
of Teken, the man from whom we had wanted to ask for cassava.  When I saw him,
I exclaimed quietly, "We have never seen people like this on the coast."  He
wore a breech cloth, and his hair fell as far as his lower back.  His beard
fell on his chest.  He was standing there chewing on cassava and pork jerky.
Five spear shafts leaned against his wall.  When he turned and saw Kias and I
had reached the clearing of his house, he threw the cassava he had been eating
aside, entered the house, got up onto the bamboo platform that served as a
bed, took down his sword, and put it on.

"Uncle," said Kias, "it is us.  Do not think that we are other people."

"Then where are you from?" he asked.

"Do you recognize me?" Kias asked.  "I am the son of the Waluas who live on
the banks of the Kagapil."

"Oh," he said, "then you are a son of the Waluas?"

"Yes," Kias said.

"In that case, come in and sit down," said teken.  Then refering to me, he
said, "Who is with you?"

"This is our younger brother, Uncle," said Kias.

"Oh.  Your younger brother," he said, and took off his sword.

Our eyes came to rest upon a LARGE basket packed full of durian fruit.  They
had just returned from gathering durian in the forest.  Teken said to his
wife, "Poan, how is it that you are just sitting there?  Split open the durian
fruit so these men can eat!"

Then his wife stood up, started splitting open durian fruit, and offered them
to us to eat.

After we had finished eating durian, Teken asked, "This man who has come with
you, what clan does he belong to?"

Kias said, "This is truly my younger brother, but he is a Wagida man.  His
mother is my mother's younger sister."

Now this Teken was known as a great warrior in the region of Kak Fenolo.  No
one could match him with spear or sword in the region of Kak Fenolo.  This man
was very tall, and had a prominent nose.  His chest measured almost half a
fathom (somewhat less than one yard).  As I sat observing him, I thought,
"Indeed, this Teken, if he had been an educated man, would truly be
exceptional!  I wonder if he could be descended from the Jews, or perhaps some
other great people.  These men may wear breech cloths and red bandanas, but
they are quite magnificent."

When he learned that I was a Wagida man, he gave an exclaimation of surprise,
got down from where he had been sitting, knelt, and held the calf of my leg in
his hands (a sign of reverence and submission).  "Man of my mother's clan," he
said, "know that I originate from the Wagidas.  My mother was a Wagida.  So if
you are a Wagida man, then I beg your forgiveness if I have done ought to
insult you, lest I fall under a curse, because you are of my mother's people."

I said, "No.  Arise and be seated.  Don't sit on the ground and hold my calf."

Then he arose and resumed sitting as before.  From that time on, he bowed very
low whenever he walked in front of me.  He would say, "Man of my mother's
clan, know that I must pass before you."

Then I thought of what people had told me before coming to this place.  "Take
heed when you ascend to that region called Kak Fenolo," they had said, "for
you go to the place of a fearsome people indeed.  Those are a people who kill
men.  Arriving there, people will not see us as kinsmen.  They will try to
kill us."  Now I saw that all those things I had heard on the coast were
nothing but lies.  These people were good people indeed.

They had been curing the meat of a boar killed earlier, and now had just
returned with a fresh carcass.  It was Teken's thought that such a person as a
man of his mother's clan should not be permitted to sleep in a field house.
"Man of my mother's clan," he said, "you have come to me for provisions, but
you may not return yet this day.  See there, I have brought home a carcass.
We will return with this carcass to the houses of the settlement where we
live.  You may not sleep here, because this field house is very unsuitable.  I
am ashamed before you because you are newly arrived."

"No," I said, "I have even slept in the forests where we only spread leaves
upon which to lie.  How can you call this good house unsuitable?  We will just
sleep here in this garden."

"Impossible!" he said.  "If you were to sleep here, I would be overcome with
shame.  I must bring you to my house."

"All right," I said, "If you insist, then let us go."

Then teken said to his son-in-law, "Son-in-law, carry that boar on your back,
and tell your little brothers-in-law to beat the drums, and escort this
carcass and this man of my mother's people to my house."

So we went along the trail from the fields to the dwellings, about an hour's
walk or so, with them beating the drums.  They escorted us with the beating of
drums all the way to the dwelling houses of Gub Danet.  There I asked Teken,
"Are these your houses?"

"Yes," he said, "this is my house."

"Really!" I exclaimed.  "I often heard of Gub Danet on the coast, but now my
feet have actually trodden its compound."

And I was not disappointed by the sight of Gub Danet.  It was surrounded by
mountains.  Mountains to the left, mountains to the right, mountains to the
east, mountains to the west.  And there we were in the middle of it all.  As
5:00 p. m. approached, a mist arose and covered the land so that it was
impossible to see beyond the houses any more.  "The high mountains are truly
the high mountains," I thought.

"Man of my mother's people," he said, "sit while I take this prayer stick out
into the yard and call upon these spirits of mine that I worship regarding
this boar.  When I am done, the children will roast it, and we will eat it."

"Surely," I said.  "Go."
So he went out, split open a betel nut, placed it in an antique China plate,
and called upon those spirits of his that he worshiped.  "I call upon
Am-Di-Hulan-Tama.  I call upon my Geba-Xnehat spirits.  I call upon you
regarding this boar that you have given to me.  Having received this boar from
you, I shall speak to you throughout this rainy season until the sunshine
shall appear.  Remember to provide many other wild boar in addition to this
one."

"So this is how these people call upon the spirits," I thought as I sat
listening.  "They ask the spirits to provide them with many more wild boar
during this rainy season (the wild boar hunting season in Buru)."

After pronouncing this prayer, he entered the house and said to the children,
"Lash sticks together to make an eqat, build a fire, and singe off the hair of
the pig, for this man of my mother's people is hungry."

So they built a fire, and took the pig, and singed off all its hair.  The pig
had protruding tusks of thre finger breadths length.  Wow, what a big pig it
was!

When they had finished singing off its hair, they scraped the pig clean, and
then they cut it up.  We sat in the main house while they worked in back in
the kitchen house, a structure built up off the ground on poles.  It had no
ordinary door, but had a ladder ascending to the gable, from which those who
entered must leap down to the bark floor.

When they had finished cooking the pig, they called us to "Go back and eat
manioc."  Coming out of the main house, I could not find the door to the
kitchen.  Then I saw them climbing to the gable and jumping down inside.  "I'm
not sure about climbing up into a house such as this," I thought.  "What if I
fall down and kill myself?  Of course they are used to this thing of theirs.
A man who lives without thinking of anything else but killing pigs, deer, and
humans lives in houses like this!  I see that this house is very high!  If
only they had a door through the wall so we could enter!  But now we must
climb to the gable and jump down!"

But I had no alternative but to climb up.  Where else could I enter?

When I got up to the gable, I saw that there was no other way to get down
inside but to jump.  One had to leap down from the rafter and land with a thud
on the bark floor.  I jumped.

Landing inside, I saw that they had set yams, ...  They had prepared an old
style table framed with poles and covered with bark.  I thought, "How sad for
these poor mountain people of ours!  The world has progressed and become
enlightened, but they still eat thus at bark tables like these.  When will
these people of ours ever progress?"  So I pondered in my heart.

The pig stew did not occupy a bowl in the middle of the table.  Instead each
setting had a plate filled with pork.  It would have been impossible for us to
finish our individual portions.  And there was no salt.  The broth was
completely bland.  I wished that we had been served by healthy looking girls.
As I ate, I looked at my food, and then at the women.  What could I do?  They
had placed the food there.  If I hadn't eaten, they would have said, "He
loathes us."  These women were afflicted with goiter, and had enlarged
throats.  I just said in my heart, "Lord, may your power protect me from this
disease!"  I thought of how these plates were the very plates they ate from
day by day.  I just thought, "Lord, please show your power!  No matter what, I
am forced to eat."  And so I ate.
Before I had finished half of the pork, I said, "I am full."

"This is truly a man from the coast," they said to each other.  "People from
the coast do not eat very much.  He just eats this little bit, and he is full.
When we eat, it takes whole pots of manioc to fill us, and whole woks full of
pork.  But people from the coast eat differently."  This is how they spoke to
each other.

I washed my hands and said, "You continue to eat, for I am getting down (from
the table) ahead of you."  I had to renegotiate the rafter.  They watched
while I climbed and leapt to the ground outside.  I returned to the main
house, lay down, and rested until evening.  We slept there that night.

In the morning I said to Man Kias, "Tell Man Teken that we are leaving.  Then
lets go to the fields and get some manioc and return to your companion, who
has spent the night alone."  Then we went to the fields, where he took manioc
in a tumpline basket while I took mine in a gunny sack, and we returned.

As we approached our leaf shelter Kias said to me, "Wait for me while I climb
yonder tree.  I will climb just this one tree, and see if there might be a
possum to add to this pork skin Man Teken has given us, so we will have more
to eat."

"Okay," I said.

When he had climbed half way up the tree, I heard him whistle to me.  Then he
signaled for me to stand near the base of the tree because he had spotted a
cuscus in the hollow of a parasitic plant.  "If I miss him with my spear," he
said, "You may not be fast enough to catch him!"

So I climbed onto the roots of the tree, and he thrust at the cuscus with his
spear.  It rolled, and leapt to just the place where I stood.  I bent over,
grabbed its tail, drew my sword, and dealt it a fatal blow.

He climbed higher, and I heard him call, "Get ready for another one!  Stand
toward the east!"

I took up a position on sloping ground to the east, and saw the possum leap
toward me from above.  I caught it, and with these two cuscus in addition to
our pork, we continued home.